So far, it's been a beautiful spring

I'm not really talking about the weather, although that's picked up nicely also.  But Kansas City in the spring isn't usually something you look forward to if you're a sports fan.  It's almost the middle of April, about the time when you can realistically count the Royals out of the pennant race.  But when the boys in blue won 9-5 over the Detroit Tigers Sunday it moved the Royals record to 6-3.  I know there's only about 153 games to go, and more than likely the team will begin to swoon sooner than later, but if you don't mind, I'm going to enjoy this for a bit and do a little day dreaming about baseball in October.  After all, it's only been 26 years.

Outside of Kyle Davies, the starting pitching hasn't been terrible.  Hochevar went 7 pretty solid innings today following 6 innings by Bruce Chen yesterday.  The bullpen has been solid all season and the hitting has been timely.  Wilson Betemit let the charge yesterday, going 4 for 4 with a walk.  Cabrera, Francoeur and Escobar added 2 hits each and Luke Hochevar went 7 innings, giving up 4 runs and no walks.  He did give up 3 homers but otherwise it was a good effort.  The Royals have Monday off before starting a series in the Twin Cities against the slow starting Minnesota Twins.  Royals fans are dying for something to get excited about and right now the team is giving them reason to cheer.  Now if we'll just fill up the ball park for them.

Another reason to smile, especially if your a Missouri fan is the performance of the Tigers softball team.  The lady Tigers moved to 32-5 with a sweep of the Texa A&M Aggies Sunday by a score of 3-0.  Chelsae Thomas moved to 17-3 for the season with a complete game, allowing 4 hits while giving up 1 walk and striking out 9.  Rhea Taylor came out of her slump with 2 hits.  The Tigers are now 7-1 in conference and are a legitimate threat for a long run in post season play.  Yep, if you're living in Western Missouri, it's a good spring indeed.  If you'd like to read about these and other stories in depth, by some great journalists stop by my web site and hop over to current events, and let me know what you think.   

A little mini run to start the year. A reason to hope?

Before the season started, I expected the Royals to lose 94 games this year.  I'm not backing down from that but I do like some things I'm seeing from them just 3 games into the season.  The Angels aren't world beaters, but they're a semi solid club that certainly seemed the lowly Royals.  But the fact that we've only seen 3 errors in 3 games is certainly encouraging. The Royals aren't going to be good enough to give runs away and stay in games.  That was their downfall last year.  Billy Butler is hitting .300 but still isn't showing a lot of pop.  Chris Getz is hitting .429 and we all know that won't last.  Alex Gordon is 2 for 13 on the season, a blistering .154.  That can't continue if he intends to keep calling Kansas City home.  His clock is going to strike midnight pretty soon.

The starting pitching hasn't been terrible yet but it's been a long way from great.  The # 1 starter, Luke Hochevar, looks like a solid # 4 guy and Kyle Davies continues to prove he doesn't belong on a major league roster that intends to go anywhere.  The young bullpen looks good so far however, particularly former Tiger Aaron Crow that has thrown 3 innings in 2 games, giving up no runs and 2 hits while striking out 5.  Joakim Soria looks as solid as ever, with a 1-0 record to go with 1 save.  His strikeout numbers are low, non-existent as a matter of fact, but he's been workmanlike, throwing only 6 pitches in the save Saturday afternoon.  Better defense makes better pitchers when they're afraid to let the other team make contact for fear of an error.  Small things but something manager Ned Yost can build on while waiting for the hoped for barrage of heralded prospects to hit the major league roster the next 2 years.

I'm sticking with my prediction for now, but I reserve the right to up the losses to 100 if we see a return to the Royals baseball we've seen the last few years.  The first thing that needs corrected here is the losing mentality.  Zack Greinke admitted to it last year when he stated he didn't try his hardest since he knew he'd lose anyway.  Of course, Zack wasn't exactly a walking tribute to mental health to begin with.